


kiss me on this cold december night

by blamefincham, thistidalwave



Series: Emoji 'verse [2]
Category: Men's Hockey RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Christmas Fluff, Crushes, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-17
Updated: 2018-12-17
Packaged: 2019-09-21 00:05:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,636
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17032467
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blamefincham/pseuds/blamefincham, https://archiveofourown.org/users/thistidalwave/pseuds/thistidalwave
Summary: mitch ∙ 11/8 ∙ 8:04 PMif you assign me to whatever auston’s doing, i’ll helpwilly✨ ∙ 11/8 ∙ 8:05 PMso you want me to set him up to get hit on during his volunteer shift?mitch ∙ 11/8 ∙ 8:05 PMi just want to get to know him!!please willy, you’re my only hopeand did i mention that you’re very handsome??





	kiss me on this cold december night

**Author's Note:**

> Who needs a little festive nonsense? We sure did, so we hope you enjoy this fic we wrote in one day.
> 
> Title from "Cold December Night" by Michael Buble, because we've started our 48 hour Buble lockdown a little early this year.

**mitch ∙ 9/3 ∙ 9:03 AM**  
🆘🆘🆘 there’s a hot af guy in my bio class

 **dylan 🤓 ∙ 9/3 ∙ 10:16 AM**  
???? pics or it didn’t happen

—

Mitch throws open the door to his dorm room and immediately zeroes in on Dylan sitting at his desk. “Good, you’re here,” he says. “You would not _believe_ this guy, Dyl, oh my God.”

Dylan looks up from his computer. “Yeah, spill. What’s his name?”

Mitch drops his backpack on the floor, throws himself onto Dylan’s bed, and looks up at the ceiling. “Auston,” he says reverently. “With an ‘o’, isn’t that cool?”

“Yeah, _so_ cool,” Dyl says. Mitch does not appreciate the sarcasm, but he lets it slide. 

“He looks like he could crush me,” Mitch says. “But, like, in a beautiful fey creature sort of way.”

“Fey creature,” Dylan repeats. “Okay, did you get this dude’s last name? I need pictures.”

“Matthews,” Mitch says, standing and leaning over Dylan’s shoulder to watch him type Auston’s name into the Facebook search bar. “Oooh, that’s him!”

Dylan clicks on the profile Mitch is insistently gesturing at and then on the profile picture to make it bigger. Mitch practically swoons right there: Auston is wearing a _suit_ in the picture, and he looks even more beautiful when he’s smiling instead of wearing a ratty hoodie and grumpily introducing himself to the class.

“I mean, I guess he’s okay,” Dylan says.

“ _Okay_?” Mitch repeats. “Just _okay_? Dylan William Strome, that man is fucking hot.”

“He’s kinda cute,” Dylan says. “And not in a fey kind of way, either. I don’t think you know what that word means.”

“I do so, he’s _out of this world_ hot! Fey are otherworldly!” Mitch protests. He narrows his eyes at Dylan. “Have you lost the ability to tell when men other than Connor are hot?”

Dylan snorts. “Definitely not,” he says. “It’s just that this guy isn’t all that.”

Mitch makes a loud frustrated noise and shoves Dylan to the side a little so he can click through other pictures of Auston. “How are you not seeing this right now,” he says. “Oh my God, look at him with these _kids_ , what the fuck.”

“Again, cute,” Dylan says. “Not hot.” 

Mitch glares at Dylan. “Maybe you don’t get it because you haven’t seen him in person. I’m gonna prove his hotness to you, just you wait.” 

“I’m on tenterhooks,” Dylan says dryly. Mitch socks him in the shoulder, ignores Dylan’s loud “OW!” and starts plotting.

—

The only problem is, Mitch doesn’t really know much about Auston, aside from his name and his incredibly attractive face, and it would be weird if Dylan just lurked outside his bio class. But on Wednesday, Mitch notices something else, and he bursts back into the dorm at lunch with his epiphany.

“Both of the last two mornings, Auston came to class with a cup from The Daily Grind,” Mitch announces to Dylan. 

It’s anticlimactic. Dylan turns around slowly in his chair, frowning, and then says, “Who’s—oh, right, your weird crush guy. Uh, okay, and? So does half the student body.” 

“So that’s how you can see him in person and see how right I am about how hot he is,” Mitch says triumphantly. “We can stake him out before class!” 

Dylan rolls his eyes in a manner that Mitch decides is exasperated and yet fond. “Okay, sure. Operation Mitch Is A Creep is go.” 

Obviously then Mitch has to wrestle Dylan for his honour, so that’s the rest of the evening, more or less. 

—

Dylan is less enthusiastic about the plan when Mitch wakes him up at 7:15. “This is your _8 AM_? Fuck me, I don’t care, sure, he’s hot, whatever,” Dylan groans, trying to cover his head with his pillow. 

“No, it’s about _honour_ ,” Mitch argues. He’s a morning person, so he’s already fully awake, and he knows Dylan deeply resents this about him. 

Mitch ends up having to promise Dylan a long list of things that might include the soul of his firstborn, he’s not entirely sure, but he does drag Dylan out of bed and to the student union by 7:30. Like a coffee zombie, Dylan automatically sleepwalks for the line, but Mitch grabs him by the back of his neck and installs him at a table.

“What?” Dylan says, drowsy and offended. 

“We’re here to observe, not participate,” Mitch reminds him.

Dylan’s glare intensifies. “You drag me out of bed at an ungodly hour to stalk some guy and you won’t even let me have coffee?” 

“Well, you don’t have an 8 AM, do you?” Mitch says.

“I’m not a moron like you, so no,” Dylan grumbles.

“Then you can get a drink at 8, skip the standing in line,” Mitch says. It’s very reasonable, in his opinion. Strangely, it doesn’t seem to do much to placate Dylan.

Fortunately, Dylan doesn’t have too long to stew in his rage, because they’ve only been there for ten minutes when in walks Auston, looking exhausted and gorgeous, a baseball cap tugged low and his hands in his pockets. Mitch kicks Dylan under the table and gestures, extremely subtly, with his head.

“Ouch,” Dylan complains, but gamely, he cranes his head to look. He raises his eyebrows. “Seriously? You woke me up for _that_? He looks exactly the same as in the pictures.” 

“That is _patently_ untrue,” Mitch whisper-shouts. “No way do you get a sense of how _big_ he is in the pictures.” 

“Okay, I’ll give you that,” Dylan says. “But _still_ …”

“I can’t believe you’re unimpressed in the face of the hottest man alive. And, c’mon, the _size_ of him, he’s like—if a refrigerator had an ass,” Mitch says, crossing his arms. 

“ _If a refrigerator had an ass?_ ” Dylan echoes, and that is the look of Dylan discovering something he’s going to mock Mitch for for the next several years. Shit.

“I mean—” Mitch says, but there’s nothing to say, really, especially because Dylan is repeating at an alarming volume, “If a _refrigerator_ had an _ass?_ ” 

People are turning to look at them, and Mitch grabs Dylan by his arm and frog-marches him out of the coffee shop, because if Auston looks over and notices this Mitch will actually die on the spot. 

Dylan lets himself be dragged, laughing so hard he’s wheezing, until they’re outside the student union, at which point he stops short and says, “Fuck, I didn’t even get coffee!” 

—

 **dvo 🏆 ∙ 9/6 ∙ 9:23 AM**  
REFRIGERATOR ASS???? LOLOLOLOL MITCHELL 🤣🤣🤣🤣

 **willy✨ ∙ 9/13 ∙ 3:03 PM**  
u think auston is a fey creature? you’ve never called ME a fey creature. I’m wounded 😞

 **dylan 🤓 ∙ 9/23 ∙ 9:23 AM**  
saw the hottest man alive in the SU. somehow managed to make it out with my latte and my dignity intact 😌

—

Despite the constant harassment from his friends, Mitch is determined to at least befriend Auston, if nothing else. Unfortunately, every attempt he makes at conversation over the next couple months completely bombs.

“How was your weekend?” Mitch asks on a Monday in mid-September.

“Good,” Auston says, eyes fixed on the front of the room.

“How’d you do on that assignment?” Mitch asks when they get their first work back a week later. Maybe Auston is just very studious and will talk _after_ class?

“Fine,” Auston says, and then he leaves. Mitch does his best not to be offended. He probably had somewhere to be.

“Any plans for the weekend?” Mitch asks on a Wednesday.

“Sleeping,” Auston says.

“Isn’t it kind of early for winter festival posters?” Mitch asks when he notices a flyer for the campus winter festival sticking out of Auston’s textbook. 

“I’m on the planning committee,” Auston says, and then their professor starts lecturing, so Mitch can’t ask the twenty follow-up questions he has—which isn’t Auston’s fault, so Mitch calls that one a win. 

“Did you catch what Prof M said about Punnett squares?” Mitch asks.

Auston just hands Mitch his notes. That’s a low point.

He recovers neatly the next week, though, when he deliberately sits directly behind Auston, taps him on the shoulder, and asks, “What day is it?” 

Auston looks confused for a moment before something that might be understanding dawns on his face. “It’s October 23rd,” he says. Mitch is pretty sure he smiles.

Despite that win, Mitch still starts to worry that all Auston’s one-word answers mean that Mitch is bothering him. While Mitch knows he is at heart an annoying person, he’s not trying to drive Auston away before he even makes friends with him, so he doesn’t try to start a conversation at their next class.

Ten minutes before class ends, Auston asks, “Ready for the test next week?”, and Mitch near about explodes from excitement.

“Uh, yeah, I think it’ll be okay,” he says, trying to play it chill and all too aware that he’s probably failing. “You?” 

Auston nods. “Shouldn’t be too bad.” 

Mitch kicks himself after class for not trying to swing that conversation into a study session, but whatever, there are wedding bells ringing in his brain regardless. 

When he gets back to his dorm room later that day, Dylan is lying on his bed FaceTiming Connor. Mitch promptly cuddles up to him so he can get his face on the screen. “Hey, Davo, guess what happened today.” 

“Do you fucking mind?” Dylan asks.

“Not at all, this is fine,” Mitch says.

“What happened, Mitch?” Connor asks, clearly hiding a laugh.

“Auston started a conversation with me,” Mitch says triumphantly. “For the first time _ever_. I must not annoy him after all!”

“Doubtful,” Dylan mutters. Mitch jabs him in the side with his elbow. 

“That’s awesome,” Connor says enthusiastically.

“Right?” Mitch says. 

“What are you going to do next?” Connor asks. “I bet you could message him.”

Mitch grins. “This is the kind of forward-thinking advice I should really be getting from _you_ , Dyl,” he says. “But I haven’t even added Auston on Facebook.” 

“What would you message him about?” Dylan asks as Mitch gets his phone out of his pocket.

“Class, obviously,” Connor says. “We’re keeping it casual.”

“First of all, there is no we in this situation,” Dylan says. “Second, is this supposed to be a seduction technique?” 

“Do you really think I should add him now?” Mitch asks Connor. He’s navigated to Auston’s profile, but the idea of actually hitting the friend request button has anxiety doing cartwheels in his stomach.

“Sure, add him,” Connor says. “It’s how Dylan and I got our start.”

“That’s not exactly—” Dylan starts.

“What if it was just a coincidence that he asked about the test and he actually hates me?” Mitch asks. 

“That’s stupid, he doesn’t hate you,” Dylan says. “And if he does, I’ll fucking kick his ass.” 

“I’d pay money to see you try,” Mitch says dryly, but it’s actually kind of comforting. He requests to be friends with Auston and immediately locks his phone. “Okay, it’s done. Quick, distract me.”

Auston accepts the friend request later that evening. Mitch may or may not do a celebratory dance.

—

A few days later, Mitch is zoning out pretending to study and mostly watching the group text blow up as Willy tries to get everyone to agree to volunteer for the winter festival, which he runs. That’s about when the lightbulb goes off. 

He sends Willy a separate text, because he doesn’t need to get chirped in front of _everyone_ , thanks. 

**mitch ∙ 11/8 ∙ 8:04 PM**  
okay william, i will help you, ON ONE CONDITION

 **willy✨ ∙ 11/8 ∙ 8:04 PM**  
i’m not going out with you

 **mitch ∙ 11/8 ∙ 8:04 PM**  
willy. william. you know my heart belongs to another, bro  
and that’s the condition, actually  
if you assign me to whatever auston’s doing, i’ll help

 **willy✨ ∙ 11/8 ∙ 8:05 PM**  
so you want me to set him up to get hit on during his volunteer shift?

 **mitch ∙ 11/8 ∙ 8:05 PM**  
i just want to get to know him!!  
please willy, you’re my only hope  
and did i mention that you’re very handsome??

 **willy✨ ∙ 11/8 ∙ 8:07 PM**  
i see what you’re doing, mitchell  
BUT, in the name of true love  
i will help you  
on one condition!

 **mitch ∙ 11/8 ∙ 8:07 PM**  
i love you, you beautiful, beautiful man  
name it!!

 **willy✨ ∙ 11/8 ∙ 8:08 PM**  
you make me best man when you inevitably get married

 **mitch ∙ 11/8 ∙ 8:08 PM**  
you’ll have to fight dylan for it  
and fyi: he pulls hair

 **willy✨ ∙ 11/8 ∙ 8:08 PM**  
😱

—

 **Auston Matthews**  
Active now

NOV 16 AT 11:57 AM

good seeing you at the meeting yesterday!!  
so, hot chocolate, eh? ☕

Yeah, was nice  
And I’m letting you know right now  
We’re getting the good shit  
That yellow no name stuff has no place at our booth 🙅

oooooh, okay, a man with an opinion  
I’ll try not to be offended on behalf of no name 😂  
do you have topping preferences?

Marshmallows >

I don’t disagree?? but I feel like there are whipped cream people out there

We can have both  
And candy canes

don’t blow the budget 💸💸💸  
but we can probably make that work

You set the nickname for Auston Matthews to Hottest Man Alive.

what else do we need to take care of?

Decorations. What are your thoughts?

GLITTER ✨✨✨  
wanna hit up the dollar store? tomorrow maybe?  
I bet we could craft some good shit

I’m not very crafty but sure sounds fun  
😊✨

—

For not being crafty, Auston is a good sport about the trip to the dollar store. It’s maybe a little awkward in the car on the way there, since they don’t actually know each other and Mitch wants Auston to like him even more than he usually wants new people to like him, but Mitch’s response to awkwardness is always to talk right through it. Auston seems to think he’s funny, at least. 

They end up taking over three tables at the student union with all their supplies once they get back to campus. Auston takes a posterboard and starts drawing an enormous mug of cocoa for their sign, and Mitch decides to start on making paper snowflakes to hang from the roof of their little booth. His first few are decidedly asymmetrical, but once he has one he’s happy with, he nudges Auston and shows it to him. “Eh?” Mitch says, proud of himself.

Auston looks at it thoughtfully for a long moment, and then waggles his hand and says, “I’d say it’s...snow-snow.” And then he lays himself on the table to protect his drawing when Mitch throws a marker at him for that terrible pun.

If Auston is that protective of his drawing, Mitch is going to leave him to it. He makes a ton of snowflakes, only looking up to sneak glances at Auston’s adorable concentration face. When he’s done, Auston is still working, so he starts on the lettering to advertise the cocoa and topping options. That takes a while, but Auston is still not done, so Mitch moves on to colour, and then finally glitter.

Auston is _still_ not done, so Mitch carefully and sneakily dumps some glitter in his hair. This is a terrible miscalculation, because now he _definitely_ looks like an otherworldly fey creature, especially when he turns his head and dumps some on his drawing, and then starts laughing once he realizes what Mitch has done. 

After all that, Mitch sneaks a glance at Auston’s drawing. It’s a very careful, deliberate...ordinary cup of cocoa. It has a marshmallow floating on top and a candy cane stuck in it, but Mitch has absolutely no idea how this took Auston the better part of two hours. 

Auston looks proud of it, though. Which is unfortunate, because proud wasn’t a facial expression of his that Mitch had seen before, and it turns out it’s just as devastating as all the rest. 

“Are you gonna, like, colour that in? Because we might be here until midnight if you are,” Mitch teases. Teasing is flirting, right? That’s how this works?

Auston glares at him. “Sorry for not wanting it to look like a third-grader did it,” he says with a quick glance at Mitch’s snowflakes. Then there’s this flicker of guilt across his face, like he’s worried that was too mean, but Mitch cracks up, because it definitely wasn’t. He knows his aesthetic is that of a nine year old on a sugar high. He’s cool with it. 

“We got a whole booth to fill,” Mitch points out, once he’s recovered. “You got the quality, I got the quantity. See, we make a good team.” He offers Auston his fist to bump, which Auston does with a small half-smile.

“I guess we do.”

—

The festival itself is almost a letdown after how long Mitch has been looking forward to it, mostly because it’s so _busy_. They both have to work as fast as they can to keep the cocoa line reasonable, and Mitch gets depressingly little time to talk to Auston. When he looks up and sees the next shift coming to relieve them, he feels his stomach sink. The semester is practically over, he never made his move, they’re never going to talk again, he’s going to die alone…

But when they leave the booth, Auston doesn’t say goodbye. He just sort of shuffles along behind Mitch like a hulking, gorgeous shadow. “I’m going to go check out the ornaments that the 3D printer guys are selling, I need a Christmas gift for my brother,” Mitch says, trying to give Auston an out.

“Cool, I’ll come with,” Auston says, which—he doesn’t even ask if he can, he just announces he will, and Mitch feels almost dizzy with how fast he’s regained his sense of hope. 

On the way to the ornaments, they pass the cider booth, which Auston points out is way less busy than theirs was. Mitch gives him a smug high-five. “It’s the decor,” Mitch declares. “What does black and yellow have to do with Christmas? And not nearly enough glitter.”

“Definitely the glitter,” Auston says, deadpan. Fuck, Mitch loves it when beautiful people make fun of him. This is such a problem.

The 3D printed ornaments are indeed cool, and they both end up with one, but Auston still doesn’t leave Mitch’s side after that. Instead, they end up giggling over roasted nuts, buying a bag, and splitting it. It really feels like a date, and Mitch can’t quite believe it. He’d pinch himself if it wouldn’t be totally obvious. 

At some point after the nuts run out, Mitch realizes Auston has gone from being his handsome shadow to leading them. Which is fine with Mitch, he’d follow Auston into hell, if that—

“Uh, whoops,” Auston says. It’s not a very convincing whoops, but Mitch still follows his gaze on instinct, and… there’s a branch of mistletoe hanging off the eaves of a building, a foot or so above their heads. 

“Whoops,” Mitch says back. He can feel himself going very red, and he hopes it’s dark enough that Auston can’t really tell. It’s dark enough that he can’t quite tell if _Auston_ might be blushing, anyway, but not so dark that he can’t see that Auston is...smiling? Just a little?

And then, before Mitch knows what’s happening, Auston is kissing him. It’s the tiniest little kiss, a gentle press of lips to the corner of his mouth, and the second he tries to pull away, Mitch makes an embarrassing sound, grabs the front of Auston’s coat, and hauls him back for a better one. 

It’s not his finest moment.

Thankfully, Auston doesn’t seem to mind. He laughs against Mitch’s mouth, but he kisses him back anyway. After a few kisses, they break apart again. Nobody mauls anybody else this time, but Mitch can’t help the wide, goofy grin that spreads over his face. Especially not when Auston is smiling, too.

“Uh. Wow,” Mitch says, a little dazed. Auston ducks his head for a second, and Mitch can feel him lacing his fingers with Mitch’s. This is fucking amazing. Mitch _does_ pinch himself with his free hand this time, and no, yeah, this is happening. All right.

Hands connected, they start walking again—though in which direction, Mitch couldn’t tell you for a million bucks—and quietly, Auston says, “So, hottest man alive, huh?” 

Mitch stops short. “ _What?_ ” Willy _said_ they weren’t really bros, and if he told Auston, Mitch is going to kill him, no, shave his head and _then_ kill him—

“You, uh, realize that when you change somebody’s nickname on Facebook Messenger, they can, like, see that...right?” Auston says, clearly amused. 

Mitch stares. “I...did not realize that,” he says faintly.

Auston cracks up. He doesn’t let go of Mitch’s hand, which is about the only thing keeping Mitch from running away to die in a hole somewhere. “That makes _so_ much sense,” Auston manages eventually. “I thought, like, wow, that’s a pretty bold way of shooting your shot, but then you just didn’t mention it at all?” 

“I’m an idiot,” Mitch says, covering his face with his free hand.

“Like, yeah, but whatever. Worked out okay,” Auston points out, squeezing Mitch’s hand. 

Mitch sighs and lets his hand fall back to his side. “I guess this is worth the humiliation,” he agrees. Then he presses Auston into the side of the building and kisses him. They’re a few feet from the mistletoe at this point, but that’s fine; they don’t really need it anymore. 

—

 **Hottest Man Alive**  
Active now

DEC 10 AT 10:48 PM

Hottest Man Alive set your nickname to Cute Smile Bio Guy.

❤️💚  
wait did you actually call me that to your friends??

**Author's Note:**

> All credit for the "if a refrigerator had an ass" comment goes to our hero trinityclare 💖
> 
> We'd like to thank the AO3 volunteer gods for the fact that we didn't have to code in the emojis this time.
> 
> For more [emojis](http://twitter.com/thistidalwave) and [banter](http://twitter.com/ungilded), follow us on twitter.


End file.
